


Evaluations

by AceQueenKing



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, First Dates, Paparazzi, Pre-Canon, Protests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 15:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13977840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/pseuds/AceQueenKing
Summary: Benezia evaluates Aethyta.





	Evaluations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DrJekyl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrJekyl/gifts).



Benezia enjoys being alone, and there is no place better to feel alone than a library.

 She sighs in relief as she flips through the pages of ancient research; the hanar keep meticulous records of their creators, almost to the point of ridiculousness. Still, Benezia’s research into whether the similarities between some of the Asari gods and the Hanar’s prothean Creators have drawn their share of criticism; she has walked past several signs loudly proclaiming “Janiri belongs on Thessia” or “Our Creators, Ourselves!” or “Stop  Asari imperialism!” She has brushed these concerns aside, as she always has.

 Benezia does not like to be wrong. Benezia researches heavily, then makes her decisions as to cultural criticism and praise only when she has all the facts in her hands. It is for this reason she has gone to Kahje to research archeology; even ancient culture can influence things today, the past unknown but no less important. The Hanar were one of the first the asari discovered once they had invented spaceflight; if Benezia was right – and she often was – perhaps the asari had done more than simply encounter the Hanar. Perhaps the Asari had guided them along their path, as Lucen and Janiri had once done for the Asari themselves. Such cultural debt would explain the Hanar’s love of poetry and culture, the Hanar’s lack of military.

 The library’s quiet is more than conducive to concentrating, though her attention is at long last beginning to wane. She has been here for hours; she will be here for more if she does not want this to turn into a multiple week trip.

 She suspects no one wants that. Even the hanar librarian is more than content to leave her alone in the rare texts room; hanar don't like it when outsiders poke into their business too much.

 She cannot say that she misses any commentary he might offer. After riding with six noisy, _vulgar_ asari commandos through asari space and the better part of Kahje's great ocean, silence is welcome. Enjoyable, even, as much as it is tedious.

As if on cue to ruin her thoughts, one of the six commanders entrusted to her care comes into the library. Her boots thump in heavy staccato to Benezia’s desk, before she sprawls into the chair across from her, her boots splaying across the table. She seems oblivious to how close her clumsy feet have come to the delicate reeds that make up some of the Hanar’s oldest and most valuable texts.

 “Hey, Princess,” the commando – Aethyta, the loudest, of course – grins. The grin is carnal and utterly filthy despite the complementary address. “Thought you might be wandering around here.”  
  
She looks up from her work annoyed. Bad enough that Lyana T'Lessi had insisted that she needed a guard. Thus far, the Sacred Mother's much feared hanar extremists have been far less of a threat to her as the commando unit she'd sent with her.

 “An astute observation,” she mutters, flipping through the pages and pointedly refusing to answer the question.

 “Jeez, you’ve had your nose in there for hours.” Aethyta grunts. “We were all ready to send a search party for you, except it’s not much of a search if you know exactly where someone is going to be.”

 Benezia gives her daggers in her eyes; Aethyta merely smiles that same crude smile. She's vulgar, rude, the sort of commando Benezia doesn't believe in giving the time of day to, but then she puts her hands on the table and grins triumphantly and there's something about her that Benezia is utterly intoxicated by the confidence.

 She should ignore her until she goes away, but perhaps it is that she is bored, or perhaps it is that she secretly longs to walk away from the dull and pious reeds, and perhaps it si that she finds the woman utterly gorgeous to look at – but at any rate, her eyes meet Aethytas, and Aethyta winks.

 “Anyone ever tell you you’re cute when you’re mad, Princess?”  Aethyta reaches out her hand, grabs it, makes a note of studying Benezia’s scales with such pornographic attention Benezia finds herself blushing.

 “I’m not – that is – “

 “C’mon,” Aethyta says, standing up and letting her chair scrape against the oceanic floor, much to the “Hanar’s glowing wrath. “It’s been hours, you’ve got to be hungry. Let’s get you out of here, go back to the hotel. Get some drinks – maybe some food, too.”

 Any other day, Benezia would say no, would put work first. But perhaps it is that she is tired of doing that, or perhaps it is that she is weak to light blue scales and insolence. But they do wind up at the bar; the hanar protestors attempt to follow, and for one moment, Benezia feels a panic she would absolutely, positively deny to any living person –

 “Move back!” Aethyta shouts, her biotics sparking into a shield that surrounds Benezia. “Nothing against Hanar, but if anyone even comes close to touching that marvelous rack over there, I’m going to have to send you back to your Creators with substancially less tentacles than you came here with.”

 In light of that glowing speech, no one argues. She catches an Asari reporter who tries to touch her, lightly puts her right hand in front of the nosy paparazzi’s omni-cam even as her left lightly cups one of Benezia’s breasts, pushing her toward their ride.

 Had anyone else tried it, Benezia is certain she would leave them crawling back to Thessia with fewer fingers than they had come there with. But coming from the crass commando, she would be almost worried if she didn’t. She has read Benezia too well.

 As Aethyta grins at her, triumphant, and their sky car flies off into the skied dome of one of the Hanar’s few above-water cities, Benezia evaluates Aethyta. Her command is impressive, even if her attitude is, at best, crude.  She's not the type she can see herself winding up with, but she'll definitively do for a night.

 Perhaps two.

Maybe, she thinks, daring to curl her arm around her new date, it wouldn't be such a bad thing if the trip was extended to a few weeks. 


End file.
